Community of Inquiry meets Community of Practice

The community of inquiry (CoI) may be essential for teaching in a remote situation. How does this relate to the learning theory of the community of practice (CoP)? How do the teacher, social, and cognitive presences translate into the elements of the community of practice: the domain, the community and the practice.

I believe they work in tandem. The CoP assumes a practice that the CoI does not assume. The CoI assumes a cognitive presence that is only suggested by the CoP. The CoI framework is academic. The CoP framework is task based. In online art education, they work together. There must be inquiry, there must be cognition, but the learner and the teacher are collaborating to create, rather than only constructing knowledge.

The CoP framework encourages one to develop expertise in a community. It is first and foremost a learning environment, not necessarily an education environment. Participants collaborate around learning objects and boundary objects. The CoI framework does not formally address learning objects. IThe learner support presence in the CoI framework becomes a boundary object that moves the CoI framework into alignment with the CoP.